7x07: Claire
by Metrical
Summary: Claire feels rather set apart from everyone in her life, most of all Gemma and it hurts her an awful amount, she is just too good at hiding it. For once Gemma is going to realise that she needs to be there for somebody else.
1. Chapter 1

**SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE**

**Yes I'm back, 'twas a pretty good trip, it actually made me realize my friend group isn't far off a Skins like group o-o. So there are 3 things I really want right now: 1. To play the new Mario Kart cause that game looks awesome. 2. To have the horrifying next few days over and done with particularly my auditions. 3. To get things sorted, i.e. Christmas house, party, get a job, etc. Yeah I'm feeling kind of crap at the moment just because of all these huge daunting things :S But then fanfiction is always there for me :) and I reckon these next few stories are going to be brilliant, so here it is! Episode 7: Claire!**

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><p>The ceiling twinkled as the shapes of autumn leave silhouettes doused the room, a cool breezy air blew through the room as a warm, winter morning sun cleansed the room, lined with various quotes, drawings, and other things from the world that never quite made it into somebody's home.<p>

Claire's eyes gracefully slid open as she looked across the room. She placed her right elbow on the bed holding her head up and smiled at her blissful room.

Whenever she was at home she resided in either her room or the living room, but often would find herself being distracted in the living room, but found herself there more often in the winter due to two things: the fireplace and her love of Christmas.

When she meant her love of Christmas, she didn't really mean the gift and family side to things, because it was time she had to spend with her family, and that was possibly her least favourite pastime.

She loved the winter wonderland, the quiet yet glowing city in the North Pole lined with various bakeries and toy factories, and made a part of her glimmer inside and she smiled with glee.

She had been hoping to spend Christmas with Gemma, but Gemma's idea of Christmas was going out and getting so smashed that she didn't get up the entire day her parents wanted to spend with her.

Claire sighed at the thought of Gemma, her face bloomed across Claire's wall, never in photos only in thousands upon thousands of drawings, each one raised her smile just that little more.

She was with Gemma, but she couldn't help feeling a million miles away from Gemma, it was as if neither of them understood each other, Claire felt the relationship for what it really was, but tried to shut the thought out of her brain.

Claire gracefully slid her feet across her bed and delicately touched them upon the ground standing to her feet. She rubbed her hair as she made her way to the bathroom, down the side of the mirror, two words were written in black marker and repeated many times.

_Tell them, tell them, tell them, tell them._

Claire looked at the notes and then into her reflection in the mirror, "No," she said, "because they will hate you more."

She walked back into her room and looked at a picture of Gemma again, "Good morning sweetie," she said as she kissed the picture hanging upon the wall.

She swung back and forth calmly in her room, before heading to the draw to get clothes out. She bent down and pulled open the 3rd draw before slamming it shut again while quickly shutting her eyes.

"Wrong draw," she whispered to herself.

She opened the second draw to pull out her undergarments before heading over to the wardrobe to get her dress.

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><p>Claire closed the back door quietly; the rest of her family was most likely still asleep as the sun was only just settling over Bristol.<p>

Behind Claire's somewhat enormous house which most considered a mansion, yet she found somewhat unnecessary; was a large open field with a trail leading off to the right, which Claire took her fist steps on.

She spread her arms out wide like a bird and began to tread carefully down the path as the wind blew through her hair.

As she furthered her journey into a forest, the woodland creatures began to chatter in her direction to which she smiled and said in a friendly tone, "Good Morning Hansel, it's good to see you this morning."

She continued her tread along the path until she came across a soft meadow. In the middle stood a lone yet colorful oak, which had many engravings in it.

_She loves me, she loves me. I find her so beautiful. I want to feel your soft lips on mine. Hold me until the sun sets upon the forest._

Claire smiled as she stroked the tree before spreading out among the flowers, she gracefully open her eyes to the glistening sky above her, a friendly mix of pink, blue and white.

Claire softly closed her eyes and listened to the noises in her head, as her arms moved calmly among blades of grass.

Her teeth began to shine, as she heard a playful voice and a laugh as the river below her began to trickle louder.

Claire raised her torso and crawled down to the river. She placed her left hand upon a rock and her right hand dipped gently into the flowing water as a round orange fish came along and nibbled at the tip of her pointer finger and Claire bit her lips and giggled at the fish.

Behind her, her phone buzzed as she received a message. Claire stood up and walked over turning on her phone to see a message from her Mum, **'Home, Now.'**

Claire's smile dropped to a plain look before she lifted her head up one more time, to feel the wind and began her journey back along the path.

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><p>Claire quietly slid the door shut as footsteps came in her direction. "Claire!" a shrill voice immediately shouted, "Where have you been?"<br>Claire put on her usual smile, "Same place as every morning Mum, down in the meadow."  
>"What have you been doing down in the meadow then?" she said narrowing her eyes.<p>

Claire smirked, "Just normal stuff Mum, embracing nature, enjoying my surroundings… relaxing."  
>"With illegal substances?"<br>"No!" said Claire, "Just... relaxing."  
>"Claire I'm not in the mood for your little games this morning, it's a big day, there is a lot to do, the whole family has to get ready to go away and I can't help you pack for your trip, you have to do that yourself, so instead of going off with the fairies down in the forest you can go pack so you don't get hypothermia."<p>

"Mum, why are you always so angry with me?" she asked sadly.

"Because you never do what you're told." She said.

"But I do Mum, I'm just a teenager, but I do what you tell me to, you're never happy with me Mum, not even on Christmas, not even on my Birthday Mum, if you saw some of the stuff my friends did…"  
>"If you listened to me Claire," she interrupted, "Then for a starters you wouldn't be hanging around those bunch of drunks, and junkies and homosexuals and criminals and sex addicts."<br>"But they aren't like that Mum," she said, "…they're lovely."  
>"Well I suppose you'd know all about lovely," she said nodding her head.<p>

"But I do Mum," she said, "I really do, you're the one who isn't lovely to me."  
>"Claire, when you start behaving like your siblings do, then you can tell me the definition of lovely, they may muck up sometimes, but at least I can safely search their room."<br>Claire stared right on through her mother, "Do you know what you'd find if you searched my room?"

"I could take a few guesses, cigarettes, condoms, alcohol bottles, needles, pictures of naked men, that's what I'd find in there."  
>Claire shook her head, "No Mum," She said, "none of those things are in there, shows how well you know me."<br>"I don't have time for this Claire! This is just more of your trouble! Pack!" She shouted pointing towards the stairs.

Claire walked out of the room, with her head tilted trying to push back tears.

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><p>"Claire!" came an excited voice as Claire walked into the room.<p>

A small figure ran up to Claire hugging her leg.

Claire smiled down at her, "Good morning Bonnie, how are you doing?"  
>"I'm bored Clairy, all my toys are packed up, so I don't have anything to do!" she gripped Claire's leg tight, "Will you play with me Claire?"<br>"I got to go get ready sugarcake," she said ruffling Bonnie's hair, "I haven't packed yet."  
>"Claire please come on our holiday, all the boys do is play soccer and video games, they never want to play pet store with me, but you do, please come with me."<p>

"You'll have Jean down there to play with, she's lovely." Said Claire with a smile.

"But all she does is play soccer and talk about how boys are losers and girls rule, but that's not true because we are all the same aren't we Claire?"

Claire smirked to herself; "Yeah, but I got my own camp Bonnie, with my own friends."  
>"Mummy said your friends are bad people and that if you kept playing with them you'd turn bad too, but I met your friends and they were good people, is Mummy talking about different friends? Cause I don't want you to turn bad…"<br>Claire bent down and smiled at Bonnie, "I'm not gonna turn bad Bonnie, Mummy can be wrong sometimes to, and Mummy can be mean sometimes too. It's important to remember that Mummy makes mistakes but she still loves you… and me too… I'll see you in 2 weeks when you get back cupcake." Claire leaned over and kissed Bonnie on the forehead before standing back up and smiling at her and then walking out of the room.

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><p><em>A bit of a short chapter, but it's just another introductory one, I think the names of the siblings might be rather different when I mentioned them in 7.02 so I have to go back and change that… I will keep writing 7.07 the coming days, but keep in mind I am feeling a bit crap and overworked so forgive me, if I'm late or something like that, this time next week I'll be fine with nothing left to worry about… well… mostly. Also remember to head over to my user profile for a link to the character page which will be updated for 7.07. Chapter 2, up soon.<em>


	2. Chapter 2

**SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE**

**Once again, I have kind of been all over the place and constantly feeling crap and now I have to do the stupid bloody formal on top of everything and I have less than a week to prepare, it's gonna be everything that was ever terrible all in one night… why can't life just be over? Also I'm not feeling the click to right, which I really need, that sort of kick, something that I really hope to pick up in 7.08, cause I'm hoping that one will be my best story. Yet I continue to write, cause I love all of you, despite the fact that Mac's are dumb and I cannot play Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, which I really want to. (Everything please die). On a more pleasant note… chapter 2.**

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><p>Claire arrived in her room and shut the door leaning her back against it and letting out a sigh, she slowly stroked her cheeks. "You'll be fine." She said to herself, before sitting down on her bed.<p>

Claire laid her head back, as her hair spread out across the bed and her eyes flickered to the ceiling and then right to a notepad lieing on the edge of the bed to which she smiled.

She picked up the notepad and walked over to the desk, where she grabbed one of many sharp pencils and immediately began drawing.

What started as lines of graphite, immediately began to blossom into a flourishing autumn tree, shedding it's leaves getting ready for the winter and as it came to life, two figures sat laying across each other beneath the tree, hand-in-hand.

Claire placed the pencil down and smiled to herself, before she heard a knock at the door.

"Shit," she said, she quickly shut the notepad and chucked her suitcase on the bed, hurling stuff inside it, "Come in!" she yelled.

The door creaked open slightly to where Bonnie stood smiling. "Hi Clairy, I wanted to play with you," she said in a chirpy little voice.

"Come on Bon-Bon, you know I'm packing." She said.

"But I asked the boys, and they don't want to play with me, they only want to play soccer." She said, crossing her arms with a frown across her face.

"I would play with you, but I have to leave soon, and so do you." She said.

"Clairy?" she asked, "Why does Mummy say bad things about you?"  
>Claire looked up at the wall, "Because I'm wrong…" said Claire.<p>

"But why?" she asked.

"I just am Bon," she said, "And… I love a girl… but she doesn't know that."

"But I love you Clairy Beary, you are my big sis who plays games with me." She said wrapping her arms around Claire.

Claire smirked, "I love you too Bon-bon, but… it's a different kind of love."  
>"Like Mummy and Daddy love?" she asked.<p>

Claire stared off silently and nodded her head.

"Why does Mummy think that's bad, Daddy loves a girl, why can't you?" she asked.

"I don't know Bonnie… I'm just… wrong."

"I don't think you're wrong, that is just silly." She said.

Claire smiled and wrapped her arms around Bonnie, kissing her on the forehead, "It is silly isn't it." She said, "Bonnie?"  
>"Yes Clairy?"<br>"Keep this between you and me, yeah? Super Secret." Said Claire nodding her head and smiling.

Bonnie put her finger to her lips, "Super secret! Can you tell me another super secret?"  
>"What super secret do you want to hear?"<p>

Bonnie pointed to the bathroom, "Why does it say tell them down the side. Tell who? Tell What?"  
>Claire stared at it for a minute, and only just realized the thing she never thought she'd end up doing she had just partly done.<p>

"Tell them… that I'm actually a dinosaur!" she said excitedly at Bonnie.

Bonnie gasped, "But I'm a Unicorn!"

Claire clasped her hands to her mouth, "But they are enemies! Which means we have to have a tickle fight!"  
>Claire immediately began tickling Bonnie's stomach, as Bonnie rolled over in giggles.<p>

The door opened to where Sharon was standing at the door, "Come on sweetie, Claire has to pack."  
>Bonnie looked up, "Ok Mummy," she said as she skipped out of the room.<p>

Sharon turned her head back to Claire, "You! Pack!"

"Alright, Alright, I'm doing it." She said, but just as she turned around she turned back to her Mum, "Why do you have to make everything for me so difficult? I try to do things right by you Mum, I do love you, you know, so why can't you show me any love back?"  
>"Claire, you just frustrate me so much sometimes, if you just behaved a bit more like your siblings."<br>"But I'm not even doing anything that bad, you just find a way to inflate absolutely everything I do, I go out to the forest you get angry, I'm slow at packing you get angry, I talk to my damn sister you get angry."  
>"Do not bring your dirty words into this house missy." Said Sharon pointing a finger at Claire.<p>

"I said damn Mum, for fuck's sake."  
>Claire's mother gasped, "How dare you say such a vile word…"<br>"Mum I'm finding it actually hard to care anymore because nothing I do ever makes you happy, when was the last time you smiled at me? You seriously hate me Mum."  
>"I don't hate you…"<br>"Oh yeah? What would happen if you lost me?"  
>Sharon paused, "Don't say that."<br>"No, if I died in a crash on the way there, would you even care?"  
>"Of course I would I'd be devastated!"<br>Claire shook her head, "Now I find that impossible to believe, if you really do love me Mum, then start showing it, because right now the way you treat me is turning me into what you don't want me to be."

"I don't know what you are anymore Claire."  
>"That's cause you don't try, Bonnie knows, Bonnie gets it and she's 6, she's 6 years old, you are 44, please Mum… try a little harder."<br>"I'm willing to learn anything about you Claire," she said with her nose held high.

Claire scoffed, "Mum, I'm… I'm…" she slapped her hands down to her side, "Can't even tell you can I? Cause then you'd actually hate me if you don't already."  
>Claire sealed her suitcase shut and then headed out the bedroom door, she turned back one more time to Sharon, "I love you Mum." She said.<p>

Her Mum stood there blinking, while looking at the ground and Claire shook her head as she went down the stairs.

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><p>Claire closed the door and head out onto the driveway where her Dad sat in the car, "Righty-o then, all packed to go?"<br>"Just about," said Claire.

"That was some attitude you gave your mother, I've never seen you like that before."  
>Claire sat down in the front seat of the car, "I can't stand it Dad, she makes me angry, I don't get angry, I'm never angry."<br>Clyde smirked, "You know, I remembered one time, when you were about 12, Henry was standing around a corner waiting for you, and then you came around, and he threw a bucket of custard on you, then pushed you down the stairs which caused you to break your arm, and when he turned up in the hospital, you still smiled and gave him a great big hug, you never get angry."  
>"She makes me life so difficult though Dad, nothing I can ever do will satisfy her, what do I do?"<br>Clyde kicked the engine into gear and started rolling along the suburban streets towards Roundview, "Your mother is someone who finds it very hard to let go of things, one of those is her children, and to see you growing up is getting the worst out of her, but you do need to keep trying, not to change, but to get her to change for you."  
>"But she is so against me and…" Claire paused, "She really would hate me if she knew, she'd never care, not like you."<br>"She would Claire," said Clyde looking over, "and she wouldn't hate me, no matter what it is."  
>"Alright," said Claire shuffling in her seat, I'm gonna do it. Claire squirmed more then looked down as her heart raced, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." She muttered.<p>

"Woah Claire!" said Clyde with a frown, "Watch it."  
>"Sorry…" she said. She took a deep breath and looked up, "Dad, I like girls."<br>Clyde nodded, "Yeah, I know."  
>Claire shook her head, "Hold on, what?"<br>"I know." Said Clyde.

"How?" asked Claire.

"Because a good parent can tell, and most usually can't because they are so against it and tend to try and shut off the thought of that, but even though your mother is quite against it, I was already to accept you, and nothing could make me love you the slightest bit less, especially not something like that, that's like saying you like pizza instead of chicken."  
>Claire smiled and looked up at Clyde, "Thanks Dad."<p>

"No problem sugar," he said, "You're still my daughter though, so this doesn't change my views on you partying or sleeping around, lesbian sex can still give out STI's you know, and although if your partner breaks your heart I can't kick him in the balls, I'm still not going to let it off easy."  
>"It's alright Dad," she said smiling, "I haven't had sex… and Gemma's… well I don't know what Gemma is anymore."<br>"You don't love her anymore?" he asked curiously.

"I do, but… I don't know if she really loves me, we are so far apart it seems like such a fake relationship, it kind of just happened cause I exposed her weak point and was in love with her… how do I make her love me?"  
>"You just have to show her yourself sweetie, and she will either love it or not be the right person for you."<p>

Claire nodded and leaned against the car window, looking out upon the morning sun of Bristol.

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><p>"Once again," said Julie, "If I hear anything about you doing drugs, booze, sex, sneaking off, pulling pranks, or causing general mayhem, you will be grounded, for months, got it?"<br>"Yes Mum," said Kenan, "I get it, I got it the first time, the 17th time is rather redundant."

"Kelly, if he starts mucking up, you text me straight away, yeah?"  
>"Yeah, I know Mum," said Kelly pulling her bag out of the car.<p>

"Why you just telling me of Mama? Kelly gets up to shit too, she drinks like a dog, and has probably had 10 black cocks in her mouth once."  
>Kelly pulled a grossed out face and smacked him across the shoulder.<p>

"Kelly!" said Julie, "Don't smack your brother! That was not enough! That vile comment deserves a knee to the balls."  
>Kelly shrugged and brought her knees up to Kenan's crotch as he keeled over on the seat and Kelly smirked.<p>

"No shit what-so-ever mister!" shouted Julie pointing to Kenan, "including that, or I'll wipe your ass to the gutter, got it?"  
>Kenan rubbed his crotch, "Yeah, I got it." He said grumpily as he hopped out of the car.<p>

"Bye Mum," said Kelly.

"Bye-bye darling." Said Julie.

As the car drove off, Kelly walked alongside Kenan to the group of students with bags and pillows next to a bus.

"Did you bring weed?" asked Kenan.

"No shit," said Kelly, "You mean to say you didn't?"  
>Kenan smiled and shook his head, "Mum's got an eye over me, but I did manage to get this," he said as he pulled out a long roll of condoms and unfolded them smiling, and flicked the line.<p>

"Might get me through to Day 3 I reckon, Hayley hasn't lost her V-plates yet? I reckon she'd be pretty keen to share one of these with me, her first one can be a juicy big black cock." He said in a thrusting motion.

Kelly turned to Kenan, "Kenan, you will keep your grubby hands at least 10 feet away from Hayley at all times, even if she wanted to go near your rat infested cock, I wouldn't let her touch it, but it's good news, cause she doesn't anyway, also, you are forgetting that we are twins and have seen each other naked on numerous occasions, not often by choice, so don't try and impress me with the size of your dick, cause I know the truth."  
>Kenan leaned his head back, "Wow sister, pull the dildo out of your ass."<br>"You know what Kenan…"  
>But she was interrupted as Kenan started jumping up and down, "My Boys!" he screamed over the crowd.<p>

"KEEN-DOG! KEEN-EYE! KEEN-STER!" the group of them called back and he ran over as they began chanting, "KEE! KEE! KEE! KE-KE-KE-KE!"

Kelly rolled her eyes, "Fuck's sake," she muttered as she head over to where Hayley and Sam sat with their luggage waiting.

"Hey," she said, "Is anyone else here?"  
>"Yeah," said Hayley, "All the boys, we are just waiting on Gemma and Claire."<br>"Ok," said Kelly, "You all alright?"  
>"Sam's just a bit cut about Ken, she hasn't been able to see him since before the Christmas holidays and she still can't see him on the trip."<p>

"Oh, Alrighty then, sorry about that Sam."

Sam looked over at Kelly briefly then looked back into space.

Kelly nudged Hayley, "I'll sit next to you on the bus?"  
>Hayley swallowed, "Actually, I was sitting next to Paulie."<br>"What!" said Kelly, "You've got to be shitting me, look I can talk to him if you like and tell him to sit next to someone else."  
>"Actually I suggested it," said Hayley, "We just… haven't talked in a while and you know, this bus trip is a good trip."<br>"Fine, whatever," said Kelly, "Mother of fuckery."

"Alright!" yelled out Tony above the squaller, "Mr. Dawson, settle down please, I wouldn't want to have to chop off your balls before they freeze off and believe me it will happen."  
>"Just having fun sir! Appreciate the Beast-a-nator." Kenan yelled out back to Tony.<br>"The only part of beast I can see in you Kenan is your intelligence."  
>The whole group began to holler, "Kenan you got ripped a new asshole!"<br>"Seriously guys!" said Tony, "Shut up! I'm trying to speak! Now before we all start the mad squabble for the best seats, which always seems to happen, reminder that Me, Mr. Hatchet, Ms. Rogers and Ms. Kennedy already have reserved seats, you will need to get your name marked off, I will be doing the boys, Ms. Roger will be doing the girls."  
>Claire looked over the crowd and saw Gemma come up to her, "Hi," said Gemma.<p>

Claire smiled back at her, "Hi," she paused for a moment, "Um… this is my Dad…"  
>Clyde stood next to Claire and extended a hand, "You must be Gemma Rockett, very pleased to meet you."<br>Gemma shook it awkwardly, "Pleased to meet you too?"  
>"I'm sure you are wonderful Gemma, but keep in mind if you break my girls heart, regardless, you will have me to answer to." He paused, "Enjoy your trip girls, I'll see you in 2 weeks Claire, Love you."<br>"Bye Dad, Love you too," she said as her Dad walked back to the car.

"You told him?" asked Gemma as she watched him walk off.

"It was a little bit spontaneous," said Claire.

"Hold on," said Gemma shaking her head, "did I just get a Dad threat?"

Claire began laughing, "Sorry, he's lovely, he really is, he's just worried for me."  
>"Wish my Dad worried for me," said Gemma, "My Dad didn't say I love you, he just said don't get pregnant, then I left a bag of dog shit in the back seat of his car before I got out."<p>

Claire tried to laugh, but it kind of died away.

Gemma shook it off, "Shall we… get on the bus?"  
>Claire nodded, "Yeah, lets do that."<p>

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><p><em>Turned out a bit better, good sort of extended dialogue sort of thing… yeah anyway, I'm now rather tired with one day of school left before holidays that's not even really school but does mark the end of year 10, but there are still some stressful things next week, then I shall be FREEEEEEEEEEEEE! Chapter 3, up soon.<em>


	3. Chapter 3

**SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE  
><strong>

**Once again, being lazy, sorry about that… Plus side! Formal is taken care of and not really a stressful thing as much anymore, downside, AUDITIONS ARE IN 2 BLOODY DAYS AND I'M FREAKING OUT… AH! Hopefully once absolutely everything that is a pain in the ass is over, I will be writing more, I really hope to that. Anyway, Chapter 3.**

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><p>Tony stood up in the middle aisle of the bus, "Right! Listening up! It's about an 8-hour trip; there should be about 2 breaks and a movie or 2 playing. If anybody does repetitive and annoying shit, they will fail college, understood? Oh and Doug has some game or something…"<p>

Doug nodded and stood up, "If I could have everyone's attention please! I think you're going to like this! We are going to play bus bingo!"

Everyone shuffling towards they're seats stopped and frowned, turning around to Doug with looks of bewilderment.

The way this is going to work is, the driver is putting a number on the screen now and you will text me five numbers you have chosen between 1 and 90, and I will read out random numbers, and should you're five numbers be picked, you yell out bingo! And come down here to claim your prize!"

"What's the prize?" yelled out someone from the back.

"A special treat from Doug's special box!" he yelled back.

Gemma widened her eyes and yelled out, "Not Pedophilic at all!"

To which the whole bus had a giggle at.

"None of that thank you Ms. Rockett!" he yelled back. The bus driver handed him a microphone, to which he spoke into, "Right, that's a bit better, so start sending in your numbers! Names too please!"

Gemma looked up the front to where Tony gave her a smirk and sat down in his seat next to Ms. Rogers.

"Quick, quick! Pass me your phone!" said Kenan up the back of the bus.

One of the lads passed his phone over and they all started to giggle as Kenan ducked behind the chair with the phone.

Kelly frowned and looked around to Doug reading out, "Yes! That's it, getting people in now! Conrad, Liz, Lola, Nikki, Burt, Hayley, Jamal, L… alright, very funny, who sent the picture of male genitalia?" he yelled out holding up his phone, to which the lads on the backseat started falling back into the chairs laughing in tears, and one in particular rolled onto the floor.

Kelly huffed, "Funny?"  
>Kenan wiped a tear away, "Lighten up a bit Sis, everyone's seen my cock."<br>"You're such a fucking joke, Kenan." Said Kelly shaking her head.

"I'm not a joke," he said extending his arms to the boys around him, "I'm part of the crew!"

"Yeah!" they yelled out, "My boi!"

Kelly smiled, "Backseat bandits?"  
>"You know it," said Daye with a grin.<p>

Kelly turned to him now, "Backseat wankers more like it." She said making a tossing off motion before turning around and walking away.

"Wouldn't mind one of them Kels," he said as the lads began to holler, "Woo! Give us a handy babes!"

Kenan gave him a shove, "Watch it you fuckers, that's my sister."  
>"She's fit ain't she Keenster." Said Rudy giving a haughty laugh, as Kenan jumped over the seat and grabbed Rudy around the nick as he began punching him and they hollered more.<p>

Kelly walked down through the aisles of seats to where she saw Hayley laughing at one of Paulie's impressions. She quickly flicked her eyes up to Kelly and then back, trying to looks as if she hadn't seen her.

Kelly's eyes darted to the floor as she walked on and saw Gemma sitting next to Claire, which was easily enough expected. She bit her lip trying to think whom she could sit next to, there was a tonne of people from Netball who she had talked to occasionally, but they'd all have other people. But Dean and Drew would be sitting next to each other and… Ken wasn't on camp, she could sit next to Sam, perfect, they weren't always too tight but it would do.

She shuffled down the seats until she saw Sam's hair to her right and smiled walking up, but Drew was already sitting next to her.

He saw Kelly's face and tried to look her in the eye but didn't do awfully well, "Hi Kelly, Um… have you… got a seat?"  
>"No," said Kelly as she shuffled forward more dropping them in the middle of a conversation.<p>

"She alright?" asked Drew.

Sam shook her head, "She'll be fine," before reaching forward into her bag and getting out a travel cushion.

Kelly saw Dean, sitting on his own, fiddling with something in front of him, she sighed and dropped into the seat next to him.

"Hello kiddums," he said turning to face her, "coming to sit next to Deany?"  
>"Before you think I'm coming on to you, it's a last resort." Said Kelly quickly.<p>

"Cheers Kels; makes me feel heaps better." He said with a fake smile.

Kelly stared at the chair in front of her for a while before she spoke, "Dean? Does everyone hate me for some reason?"  
>Dean didn't turn to face her as he flicked through his iPod, "Not as much as they hate me."<br>"Why would they hate you?" asked Kelly turning to face him.

"Same reason you hate me, I'm a dickfuck and I piss everyone off." He said.

"I don't… hate you." She said.

"You said yourself, last resort, and just so you know, I think I'm a dickfuck more than anyone else does, and I don't actually want to fuck you right now for future reference, so thanks for the condolences. So tell me why your life is so shit right now Kelly?" he asked.

"I'm kind of a bitch to everyone, Sam, Hayley, I'm not too sure what I did but they all hate me." She said.

"They don't hate you, things could be a lot worse, you get by." He said as he started to put his headphones in.

"What are you going to do this bus trip then?" she asked.

"Hopefully," he said, "fall asleep listening to dubstep, and forget that all my friends even exist."

"Dean? What are you trying so hard to shut out?" asked Kelly.

Dean paused his music and turned to Kelly, "That everybody thinks shit of me, and nobody ever thinks I'll amount to anything good." He said, and with that he closed his eyes and laid his head back on the chair and Kelly soon turned to face the front frowning.

* * *

><p>The trip was an hour in, and the loud noises had settled down a bit, except for the boys up the back, and Hollie sat quietly doing nothing just like she had at the start of the trip.<p>

Gemma had hardly said a word to her, she had said more to the boy sitting opposite her, some of it standing on the edge of flirtatious.

Gemma now stared at the TV screen at the front of the bus playing Billy Madison and let out a smirk as her eyes were glued to the screen. Claire stared at her face, warm, and soft to touch.

"Gemma?" said Claire.

"Mmm?" said Gemma still staring at the screen.

Claire hesitated, "Are we gonna talk?"  
>"About what?" asked Gemma.<p>

Claire drew a breath in, "I dunno… stuff?"

Gemma turned to Claire and gave her a puzzled look, "You gotta tell me what you want to talk about first."  
>"Ok then…" said Claire, "Never mind."<p>

"Are you ok?" asked Gemma.

Claire nodded.

"Sure?" she said, but Claire just sat there. Gemma's lip hung open for a minute before she turned back to the screen.

"I love you," said Claire looking back at Gemma, but Gemma didn't hear it and Claire turned back to face out the window.

* * *

><p>"I think it's my lifelong dream, to own a personal vending machine, now before you say anything about my poor quality dreams, if you think about it, it would be a pretty amazing thing to have in your home, can you just imagine that, I'd make it all silver and crisp, actually I'd like a pool, not like a public one on the roof, like my own personal one once again, but I'm not sure I could move back to a house cause I've gotten to use to it, are you ok?" Drew said without pausing for breath.<p>

"That kind of came out of nowhere." Said Sam with a giggle.

"Well aren't most of the things I say?"

"Sorry for not really listening," said Sam.

Drew smiled, "Not many people do, I'm just glad to be there. You'll see him next week and he is happy that you're here anyway."  
>"I just feel… everything is just bad."<br>"Love sucks?" asked Drew, "I know how you are feeling, absolutely alone yet absolutely surrounded."  
>"Yeah…" said Sam.<p>

"At least you have somebody, even if there not here. The worst thing there is in the world is being on your own, throughout everything that's what I still hate the most, well… second most." He said still with a smile.

"You're not on your own, you've got me," she said with a smile.

Drew smirked, "I appreciate it, but… I am on my own, nobody is there to help anymore."  
>"Well what's wrong?" said Sam with a worried look.<p>

"Exactly," said Drew, "you wouldn't know the first place to start."  
>"Let me help you Drew, tell me what's wrong," she said getting more and more worried.<p>

"But Ken is absolutely amazing," said Drew, "that artwork was just so gorgeous, hang onto him Sam, because he really loves you, and you may miss him, but he's still with you… you should text him, that will help you out, and we're going snowboarding tomorrow! Snowboarding! Well… the cool cats like you and me anyway," he said nudging her.

Sam immediately began to laugh, unaware of how quickly Drew had steered her away, and why he had done it.

* * *

><p>Ms. Rogers barked names out as they stood in the freezing col.<p>

"It has to be snowing… now." Said Paulie with his hands around his elbows.

"Room 4. Kelly Dawson, Hayley McDonnell, Samantha O'Keefe, Gemma Rockett and Claire Valentino." She yelled out.

"That's us," said Gemma chirpily as she picked up her bag and began walking up the hill towards the cabins.

"Oh my freaking goodness, how much longer do we have to stand here!" moaned Paulie.

"Paulie, word of advice," said Drew, "Moaning doesn't make it go faster."

"No," said Paulie, "But the vibrations of my voice, warms my bollocks up just the right amount to keep them from dropping like a pair of frozen marbles."  
>"Room 12. Drew Martin, Paulie Preston and Dean Winton." She yelled again.<p>

"Finally, race for top bunk?" asked Paulie.

Drew smiled, "You're on," as they began bolting up the hill, while Dean casually walked behind.

Dean reached the balcony out the front of the cabin and looked at the snowy hill below him, and sighed before entering the cabin where Paulie was searching through the cupboards and Drew unpacking his bag.

"Sorry Dean, you didn't run! No top bunk for you!" said Paulie slapping him on the shoulder.  
>Dean just shrugged without any emotion.<p>

"Naw, cheer up buddy," said Paulie, "there's drinkies in the mini-fridge."  
>"Fuck's sake Paulie!" said Drew, "I told you not to tell him, we're gonna get into shit for that now."<p>

Dean frowned and looked at Drew, "You just assumed I was going to steal them?"

Drew opened his mouth rather taken back by Dean's comment and now feeling regret for saying the statement.

Dean shook his head as he began to take off his shirt, "I'm hitting the hay."  
>"What?" asked Drew, "It's the first night and it's not even 10 o'clock, what's got you in such a shit mood already?"<br>"Doesn't matter, I don't give a fuck, I'm going to bed, if you're going to talk, then keep it down."  
>"What's wrong Dean?" said Paulie.<p>

"You two, goodnight." Said Dean, turning to face the wall and ceasing conversation there.

Drew fondled his shirt in his hands while he frowned staring away from Dean.

Neither Paulie or Drew had expected this, it had just come out of nowhere, Dean was suddenly incredibly upset, and they had no idea why, but now they were certain to feel bad, because he said it was there fault, neither of them ever expected any emotion from rough as guts Dean, but this time he wasn't just angry, he was upset, and they'd just made it worse.

* * *

><p>Claire lay in her rather poorly made bed with the covers off, in a thin white dress. The girls had stayed up chatting till about 1, they would have stayed up later, but the bus trip probably wore them down.<p>

Now it was about 4 and only Claire still lay awake, tired, but unable to go to sleep, just upset.

She stood up quietly out of bed, that was one advantage Claire had, moving around like a ghost and never being heard.

She looked at the bed above her, in which Gemma lay sprawled across, her legs spread like an athlete with an arm dangling over the side and her mouth open with a bit of drool hanging out.

"Let me get that for you sweetie," Claire whispered as she grabbed a tissue by the side of the bed and dabbed Gemma's face.

Claire smiled as she ran her hand through Gemma's hair, like running it through a quiet pond.

Claire placed the tissue in the bin and quietly walked towards the door. She moved it open slightly and looked back to the sleeping girls before leaving the room, shutting the door softly behind her.

The wind howled rather loudly through the night as snow began to blow throughout the place, all the cabins remained quiet, as everyone was asleep and Claire moved slowly up along the balcony, until she reached a little break between the cabins and a wide open part of the hill capped with feet of snow, slowly ascending up the hill.

Claire walked out into the dead of the night, rather cold, especially in a thin white dress, with an extreme risk of frostbite looming ahead, but she didn't really mind, she had been here once a year due to her family vacations, and already knew the place well enough.

Claire stood out in the middle of the snow, away from the cabins and in the middle of the snow. The light from the snow seemed to reflect up against her, and she twirled with her arms extended in the white brilliance, and smiled amongst the delicate beauty.

She thought of Gemma, the way they contrasted, fire and ice, Claire was the soft, snow-like beauty, and Gemma was the fiery and ravishing, passionate figure. Gemma to Claire was already perfect, and she imagined Gemma there right now, with her arms around her… spinning slowly around in the snow, as flames twirled around the two as they danced.

Then Gemma would move in close, close her eyes and place her lips upon Claire's, and Claire would feel safe and loved.

But as Claire opened her eyes, she was once again on her own, and she dropped her arms by her side and stood there as the wind howled once more.

She turned her head to the right to see a figure, sitting down and leaning up against the wall down by the cabins, a few meters away.

The figure stood up and began walking towards Claire. The snow made it hard to see, but as the figure came closer, Claire saw it was Drew, much more rugged up then she was.

"What are you still doing awake?" she asked.

"I could ask you much the same question, but we could probably both take a guess."

"How long have you been sitting there?" she asked.

"All night. You don't look like you've been able to last 5 minutes," he said looking at her lack of warm clothes.

"Yeah," she said, "It is awfully cold."  
>Drew took off his jacket and wrapped it around her arms, as they sat down.<p>

"Are you sure?" asked Claire.

Drew nodded, "The cold has never affected me, I like it, I like a lot of strange things."  
>"I like strange things too," said Claire, "It's strange for me to like Girls."<br>Drew smirked, "I don't know how people could find that strange, girls are beautiful."  
>Claire turned to Drew, "They are aren't they? And we're both foreign, not really English."<br>"Yeah," said Drew looking up at the sky.

"Drew, I think you're a lot more then what most people see."

Drew smiled looking up at her, "Thank you, I wish people could see that like you, Claire."  
>They both looked ahead of them, Claire down at the snow and Drew up at the night sky, the cold now having less of an effect.<p>

"I know we probably both have stuff on our minds, but can we just sit here… and not talk, just appreciate… this?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Claire, "Yeah, we can."

They sat there as the wind began to howl across the mountains more, and Drew stuck his arm around Claire's shoulder to keep her warm.

* * *

><p><em>Personal things! It's 1:23 in the morning now :S Though it kind of doesn't really feel like it. I have to get up at 8:30 tomorrow morning, which I'm not looking forward to at all, but hopefully I can just get the auditions done quickly on Monday, and I'll tell you guys how I went. Chapter 4 up soon!<em>


	4. Chapter 4

**SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE**

**Auditions are tomorrow… I think I'm dying inside, like properly dying, everything is dying, end everything. So I'm writing this chapter, then watching an episode of misfits, if all work out I should get 8 and half hours of sleep, hope you guys all wish me the best :) I'll tell you how it goes, then after that everything stressful is kind of over, formal has kind of lost most of the stress, now I'll just need to get my hair done on the day, then rock up and everything else will all work out from there. (Yes I am actually getting my hair done, shut up.) Anyway, here is Chapter 4!**

* * *

><p>Claire woke up to a bright and glistening sun, reflecting across a deep blue sky, with shades of bright white and green seeping through the windows, it really was breath taking.<p>

She'd warmed up rather quickly once she got back into bed, but would rather not embrace the cold again, so she stuck on layers upon layers of warm jumpers and jackets.

Her once again lazy roommates were still asleep, she didn't really mind, Sam would've been the only one she felt like talking too, and getting Sam up would still be difficult if she had a train horn in the room.

Claire stepped out onto the wooden balcony in front of the cabin now much brighter than last nights howling blizzard.

A few souls had already begun to stir, that looked totally out of whack. The problem was with college students was telling whether it was marijuana or lack of sleep, probably both.

Claire rounded the cabins and made it up to the spot where she stood last night, though there wasn't as much emotional feel, it was still pleasant.

She spread her arms out once more and began twirling as she giggled and bit her lip.

"Aye-aye," said a voice approaching, "You're up early."

Claire turned around to see Paulie trudging up the hill, firmly wrapped up in a bounty of snow clothes.

"Didn't sleep all too well," said Claire, "How did you sleep?"  
>"I actually hit the hay rather quick, Dean's rather upset, we're not sure why." He said.<p>

"Dean?" asked Claire, "That's a bit odd."

"Yeah, Mr. footy, fun and fucking, also has feelings too."

Claire laughed, "…yeah."

"What about you?" he asked, "are you ok?"

Claire shrugged, "I'll get by."

"Alright," said Paulie, "you excited to go skiing or whatever today?"

Claire smiled back at him, "I'm just happy to be here, I come here enough."  
>"Oh, that's pretty cool," he said, "well breakfast is soon if you want to head down soon enough, or if you want someone to talk to then I'll stick around."<p>

"I'm fine." Said Claire, "I'm really fine."

"Ok," said Paulie, "well if you need help, just shout. Well that's rather obvious… but if you're you know… down… upset… I'm happy to help, in anyway I can."  
>"Thanks Paulie." She said, as he began to walk back down the hill she called out to him, "Paulie?"<br>He turned around, "Yeah?"  
>"Do you think it's wrong? Me being you know… well… if I ever fucked a girl, or… well…"<br>Paulie smiled looking at the ground, "I can't understand everything, and making judgments without your own thoughts is just plain dumb, even God doesn't want you to do that. I don't completely understand everything God has written down, so I just have to wait until I do, and for now, my judgment is that I cannot condemn someone for loving someone else… sex is a different matter though, so is everything, I can hardly even begin to have a crack at you, when we have this lot and the things they do, even if I wanted to take a crack, mind you I think sex-wise, I don't if you're a virgin or…"  
>"I am," she said nodding her head.<p>

"Well, let's just say, Gemma has a lot more on her record then you do."  
>"Doesn't she just?" she said looking down at the ground, "I know you liked her, well… I don't know if you still do, but… you did."<br>Paulie sighed, "I think you understand that she is easy to fall for, even if I don't agree with pretty much everything she does, but you're good for her, much better than I would've have ever been, do some good for her Claire, cause if you don't she's going to pile drive into the fucking ground."

"I will," said Claire smiling, "and Paulie…thanks for caring, I'm glad we're friends."  
>Paulie smiled back, "Me too," he said, "see you at breakfast."<p>

Claire smiled as she watched him walk off and then looked back at the sky, twirling once more.

* * *

><p>Sam moaned as she stood in line, "Would everyone hurry the fuck up! I want some fucking sausage!"<br>Claire stood behind Sam, with Gemma in front of Sam giggling, "Ooo Sam," said Gemma, "I know you miss Ken, but I didn't realize you were missing him that much, bit out of action?"  
>"Fuck off Gemma," she said, "it's too early."<br>"Two sausages for Sam," said Gemma, "Two thick beefy sausages, one big log of meat in her mouth and another in her fanny, not sure the kitchen staff would appreciate that Sam."  
>"Fuck off!" she screamed, "Stop being chat!"<br>"Well Sam, if you're having cravings but can't get the sausage, you can always go for just the eggs." She said. She served herself a sunny side up egg, and picked it up with her fingers and folded it into a valley like shape and then slid her tongue up it while looking seductively at Sam.

Sam stood there with her mouth open, "Gemma you filthy bitch. Save lesbian fun time for when you get off this trip with Claire. That's another thing we talked about no sex in the cabin, that should extend to include sexual references, which would pretty much render your entire vocabulary useless."  
>Gemma poked her tongue out and then waggled it around a bit, "Oh Sam, yes Sam eat me out!"<p>

"Dirty bitch!" screamed Sam as she flipped off Gemma, "You're foul!" Sam grabbed her plate and walked off as Gemma stood there laughing, she looked back at Claire who was looking away from the two of them, "Coming?" she asked.

Claire turned back around, "Oh no, you go on, I'll catch up with you later," she said.

Gemma shrugged and walked off towards the table.

Claire picked up her plate and sat down opposite Dean who was sitting on his own, due to his own choice.

"Hi," she said.

Dean sighed, "Hi."  
>"Instead of making awkward small talk, I'm just gonna cut the shit and say I don't think you're an emotionless dick, and I can… help out."<br>"Can you Claire?" he said snidely, "Can you really? Cause that would be fucking great."  
>"I can try."<br>"Sorry Claire, but it doesn't matter, because I'm nothing more than a fucking stereotype Claire, I don't even care anymore, all I want is to just get away from everybody on this fucking trip."  
>"Did I do something?" asked Claire.<p>

"It's not what people did," said Dean, "It's what they didn't do."  
>"What didn't I do?" asked Claire.<p>

Dean looked up, and then placed down his cutlery, barely having touched his meal. "I'm going to get ready," he said getting to his feet, "see you up the mountains."

Claire sat at the table and let out a gust of breath, "Good day, good trip, have fun… now." She said to herself.

* * *

><p>They were high up on top of the mountain, they could see most of the snowy valleys below them and they stood there shivering, though rugged up.<p>

"I want to take a bath, in a pool of lava." Said Hayley, she turned around and saw Sam to her right, "Sam? Are you wearing jeans?"  
>Sam stood shaking more than the rest rather angrily, "Well I wasn't going to wear snow pants, fuck sake look at them; I'll look like fucking disco Spock."<p>

The group giggled at Sam's comment. "Yo Sammy!" yelled out Kenan from behind her as she turned around.

"You cold? I can make you warm inside, I'll take you for a ride on my snowmobile." He said and the boys immediately began to holler and Sam turned around flickering her eyelid in disgust.

Tony whistled over the hollering, "Listen up! It's hard to hear up here, and you'll need to listen to what the instructor says, otherwise we'll be cleaning your torso off a pole, and that's hard manual labour, not to mention the paperwork, so listen!"

The ski instructor in front of the group and lifted his visor, to see a strong rugged face with a beard getting greyer by the second, "Right!" he said in a heavy Scottish accent, "Listen up you little fuckers! Before we get started, you should know that you lot are the hardest group to teach how to ski or snowboard, you never listen, you are all probably stoned as shit, not to mention you're ugly little cunts, and most of you will suck harder than your mother on a round anus. But if you listen up, I promise that you will all have at least one bullock intact, got it?"  
>The group stood rather bewildered and unsure what to say.<p>

"Right, if you want to be an absolute try hard douche, then snowboarding is on the right, if you want to be a little pussy fucker, and that's not a compliment for the lads, it means you like thick ethnic cock inside your ass, then ski's are on the left hill."

Snow flicked into the air, as a snowboard went off the jump and landed back down smoothly. Drew had picked it up rather easily, and was getting the hang of it rather quickly, already making swift swerves and going off ramps.

Sam slowly tried to descend the hill on her skis but kept plowing to stop in fear; on the third time she tripped over and went face first into the snow.

Hayley went at a rather slow pace on the skis but soon began to pick it up and was going at a nice easy level and even went off a jump and did a spin and was rewarded with claps back up the top.

Kelly huffed, immediately making her way to the front; she could do better than Hayley, how hard could skiing be?

Kelly slowly began to descend, her legs jiggled about a bit, but she began to smile when it got easier.

Just as she began to pick up straight movement, a figure rode be and swung a pole out sending Kelly flying into the snow.  
>Kenan cackled to himself and his friend slid by, obviously having had practice before and gave him a swift high-five.<p>

Rather full of himself when he reached the top, he walked up with the skis tied on smiling cockishly.

The instructor put on a sour face and grabbed him by the collar, "If there's one thing I don't appreciate, it's dick-fuck's, and a man who hurts his woman. You are both."

He pushed Kenan backwards, and Kenan's arms began flailing as he began to slide down the slope backwards, his face in absolute fear.

Eventually his weight pushed back too far and his skis flung up and sent him rolling in a ball and they smacked him in the face, to which he clutched in pain.

Kelly immediately began to laugh from her position on the ground.

Sam continued to try and get up, but was constantly falling down; eventually stuck with one leg over her neck she screamed out, "Fuck this! Someone get me a fucking snowboard!"

Paulie began a one-two-one-two motion moving his legs back and forth, but eventually got stuck and when he reached the steep section began scattering forward and started to run with two heavy skis attached, one eventually getting stuck sending him face forward into the snow.

Gemma was on the snowboard course, and she took her time going down, spinning in the half-pipe, but getting the hang of it… and liking it.

Sam pushed herself outwards onto the snowboard course, she began to pick up speed and smiled, which then turned into a laugh, but the front of her board got caught and her she flung out of the shoe straps head on into the snow.

She got up and shook her head angrily with a scream, "I hate the fucking snow!"

Claire giggled from up the top, watching the bouncy commotion below, but then her smile dropped, and she began to look concerned… Dean was nowhere to be seen…

* * *

><p><em>Alright, I've written the chapter, Misfits, then bed, ready for tomorrow, gonna give it my best. Really anxious guys, but thanks for caring and what not, well I hope you do anyway… I'll tell you how it goes, also I'll be ten-zillion times better after tomorrow, or at least on Friday… promise… <em>


	5. Chapter 5

**SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE**

**ALL DONE! I'm good and free and now relaxing a bit, hopefully the fanfictions will really start to kick off a fair bit. They had the last Series 6 read-through today :..( hopefully the next one is Episode 1, Gemma :) (If only) Anyway, I think auditions went pretty well, I was relatively happy and not too nervous, they didn't make it frightening which is good, now for some holiday fun, so here is Chapter 5!**

* * *

><p>Sam sat inside the lodge on a lounge by the fireplace, her head leaning on her head, visibly cranky, just staring at the fire.<p>

Drew sat down next to her and passed her a mug of cocoa, with a warm smile on his face.

"Did ya have fun?" asked Drew.

"Fuck off, so not in the mood to deal with your shit." She said.

"It's only snow," said Drew, "not everyone's good at it."  
>Sam turned to face him, "You're from fucking Australia, how the fuck did you pick it up first go?"<br>"Keep in mind Samantha, that I have lived in Britain for the past 12ish years, and there's snow in Australia… well at least one place has it." He said.

"Where can you find snow in Australia?" asked Sam.

Drew swallowed, "The snowy mountains…"  
>Sam laughed, "Ha! Only in Australia, would they name a place the snowy mountains, cause there is nowhere else with snow."<p>

"Shut up," said Drew, "listen, Callum's knows a guy down in the town and he's throwing a party tonight with the intention of getting us all to go, have a big crowd there for once, you in."  
>"Why the fuck not." Said Sam.<p>

"Sam, I know you're upset, but it won't be that long, he'll be back soon, and you have only just started." Said Drew.

"Exactly!" said Sam, "I've never been use to a boyfriend who gave a shit, I don't know what to fucking do, I'm probably just going to end up messing it up like the dumbass I am."  
>Drew slid his arm around Sam and buried his head in her shoulder, "You're not useless or a dumbass, you've been my best bud for ages so I know. I think this specific camp has been the one that everybody has decided to unleash their emotions upon, and I mean everybody, especially Dean."<br>"What is going on with Dean?" asked Sam.

"I'm not sure but I'm worried for him, he wasn't at the hill today, I'm worried sick" he said.

Sam smiled, "Drew, why does no-one care as much as you do?"  
>Drew looked back at her, "I care about everybody, even when they don't give a stuff about me."<br>"Why do you do it though?" she asked.

"Because it helps me get by"

"How?"  
>"Because nobody cares about me, so I've decided to be the one who cares about everyone else instead."<br>"What do you mean no-one cares about you? I care."  
>Drew smirked and shook his head, "Nobody has any fucking clue."<br>"I do though, you told me about… well, your job…"  
>"Yeah the most shameful, disgusting part of me, which I told you… nobody ever assumes that maybe I've got a problem, in fact nobody knows the first thing about my fucking family for starters."<br>"No, I've heard you talk about... your mother before."

"Sorry Sam, everything is just shit at the moment. I'm gonna leave before I upset someone, I got to go find Dean."

Sam sat there as Drew stood up and shut her eyes before they flicked up and followed him out of the room.

* * *

><p>Dean stood in the clearing, pitching stones, at specific targets that he had designated among the trees, his pitches became faster and stronger, but eventually he just dropped the stones and kicked them through the snow.<p>

"You missed the hill today." Said Drew behind him.

"Whoop-de-fucking-doo. We got a whole week here, I'll get a chance." He said before picking up the stones again.

"There's a party tonight… if you're interested."

Dean shrugged and started throwing more stones.

"Look, if you wanted me to figure out something I've done wrong, I can't, and being an angsty little shit about it isn't going to help me find out what I did, so could you please just tell me."  
>Dean took a deep breath, "It's not just about you."<p>

"Then tell me what it is."

Dean shook his head, "Nobody gives a fuck."  
>"Not true, you haven't got any clue what it's like to have no one who gives a fuck, because I give a fuck, I've been worried shitless Dean, like you said to me when you lost Sam, you love me, best mates, well I fucking love you, so let me help you out."<br>Dean threw his hands up, "What does it matter Drew? Everyone hates me. Nobody assumes I'm anything more than a partying, druggie, sex addict, asswipe who doesn't care about anyone, my parents think even less, that's all I am Drew, nobody thinks anymore of me."  
>"I think more of you," said Drew, "Cause I know you, I know you are way more than that, you just… lose yourself sometimes, and sometimes… you be a dickhead to get by."<br>"Yeah that must be it," said Dean turning around, not particularly agreeing with Drew.

"But I know what it's like… to have nobody who see's you for you… well… sort of."  
>"They would…"<br>"What?"

Dean shook his head, "Never mind."  
>"They would what Dean? Who is they?"<br>"Everyone hates me, and if they knew, they'd hate me more, you'd hate me more."  
>"I'm not gonna hate you Dean, no matter what you did… you can tell me."<br>"It's not what I did," said Dean, "I think…. I think I…"  
>Dean paused trying to say it, but he shook his head and threw more stones.<p>

"You know when… something just comes into your life and changes everything about you, turns you into someone your not but you kind of let it happen because you want that thing so bad…well that happened, and the worst part is I know I can never have it, I'm making the better choice and choosing the better side of myself… I just hope it stays that way… If you don't mind Drew I'd like to be alone."  
>"Yeah," said Drew looking at the snow, "Of course."<br>Drew trudged off into the open snowy hill again and pulled off his beanie burying his face in it and shouted a muffled, "Fuck!"

* * *

><p>Claire watched as Gemma cackled loudly with more of her snide comments, "Oh I wish I had that on video camera so badly, Samantha you are absolutely hilarious."<br>"Don't call me fucking Samantha, how many times?"

"You let Drew call you Samantha."  
>"Yeah but that's Drew… not you." She said staring into Gemma's eyes.<p>

Gemma pulled her face back, "sorry, didn't realize you had your period up on the mountain Sammykins."

Claire took a deep breath and shut her eyes with her head down, still being ignored by Gemma; it stung her like she was next to a beehive.

Sam stood by the counter when Drew came back in, but his face was a pale grey and he looked like he'd just been shot.

"Shit, what happened? Did you find him?" she said in a rapid blur.

Drew nodded and walked up to Sam to hug her, and buried his head into her shoulder pushing back tears, "I just need a hug," he said into her jacket, "I'll be fine in a minute, we'll all be fine."

Gemma had a confused face then and turned to Claire, "Righty-o, what's all that about?"  
>Claire still had her eyes shut with a troubled look.<p>

"Claire," said Gemma and Claire snapped back into reality.

"Wha- Sorry? I wasn't paying attention."

"You OK?" asked Gemma.

"No," said Claire, "not at all."  
>"What's wrong?" asked Gemma.<p>

"Absolutely everything. Our relationship is a shit on the concept of love."

"Wow," said Gemma, "Thanks Claire."  
>"I'm serious Gemma, we are nothing more than words, we hardly even interact, you just crave the attention of everybody else, we're no different then we were before me. You just need someone and that's all I am… Gemma, you don't even know the first thing about me."<br>Gemma leant in close, "then show me something, instead of waiting for me to figure out. I'm not just with you cause you there, and you are rather complicated exciting thing… so show me…"  
>Claire stared into Gemma's eyes and nodded, "Ok." She said.<p>

She held out her hands which Gemma grabbed and they stood up walking out of the lodge.

"Follow me," said Claire, "I know just where to go."

* * *

><p>They waded through deep caps of snow in a thick enclosed forest that was up the hill to their right.<p>

"Claire? Are we going anywhere, or you getting us lost so we can die."  
>"Trust me Gemma, I come here every year with my family and considering I get yelled it at a lot when I'm with them, I need to get away, lucky paradise isn't on an island and is actually just here."<p>

Claire stepped through into an opening clearing as Gemma's eyes squinted at her surroundings.

It was beautiful and flat, a perfect circle with a beautiful view of the sky above and a flat ground without any rocks or logs in the way, you could actually see the snowflakes gently drifting down and a soft jingle seemed to move about the place.

Claire lay down, facing up to the sky, and stared intently into the deep setting blue.

Gemma lay by her side, and settled comfortably into the snow, and looked up at the sky. She immediately began to feel the effect as the beauty really started to tingle under her skin and she shut eyes to let it seep through her.

She opened them again and looked to her left, and there was Claire… but not like she had seen before… she looked beautiful, she wasn't just a hot guy or girl that Claire had got with, she had a small and soft face, with dimples, bright eyes and a perfect rosy smile getting touched with frost.

Gemma never realized how beautiful and amazing this girl could be, and it happened to be her girlfriend, Gemma had no idea… just how lucky she had been until now.

Claire extended out a delicate white hand, which Gemma slipped her fingers into.

"This is me Gemma," said Claire, "I may not be like you, all fiery and partying, but that's what we are… we belong together Gemma… the fire and ice, looking after each other… I think you're absolutely beautiful, both inside and out, but I want you to see me too. I don't live for the extreme, I live for the absolute beauty I see every day in the world, the people I see, the forest, and the snow. I love places like this because I can just lie down and think about the majesty that the universe gives us, but none of it could ever compare to you." She said as her breathing pulsed calmly, "This is me Gemma, I love you and I want you to love me for who I am, because I reckon we could actually be beautiful."

* * *

><p><em>Not much to say, as you can probably tell, this is much more an episode focusing on pure emotion instead of plot, and very much about her relationship with Gemma, her personal life will be explored in Series 8. Also, just like my band tour everybody decided to get emotional at once, a similar thing is happening here, although they just happened to do the exact same thing and happen directly one after the other (That's kind of weird) but good as well. Chapter 6 up soon.<em>


	6. Chapter 6

**SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE**

**So I've been sitting at home doing… nothing :S. I really need to get out and start doing more, it's also rather hot in this house… SOMEBODY SAVE ME! Anyway, I've been kicking myself to do more writing, so I've churned you up a chewy new chapter from the inner sewers of my brain. Chapter 6!**

* * *

><p>Kelly rapped her knuckles against the door, "Hurry up Dean! It's bloody freezing out here."<p>

Hayley shook her head and looked away from Kelly. "What? What is it Hayley? What am I doing?" she asked angrily.

"Nothing Kelly," she said, "sorry."  
>Kelly pursed her lips, "Fucks sake… Dean!"<br>Dean came out in a simple jacket, shirt and jeans combination, most of them wore fairly normal winter clothes, as it would be warmer once they reached the destination of the party.

"Took you long enough." She said.

"Sorry for inconveniencing you Kelly," he said with a stern look at her before turning to the rest of the group, "Right, how we gettin' there?"

"It's not far," said Gemma, "It's just among the houses at the bottom of the hill, so we'll walk.

"Right then," said Paulie zipping his jacket, "Let's get ready to kiss the cold then."  
>Several eyebrows were raised in Paulie's direction.<p>

He looked around, "It's a figure of speech…"  
>"Come on," said Sam, "Let's start walking before our lady balls fall off…"<p>

* * *

><p>As they approached the house a bunch of lights came glaring out and heavy music bounced around the valley.<p>

"At least it's not hard to find," said Kelly, "its kind of sitting there screaming among a bunch of silent houses."  
>Drew knocked on the door and a little slot slid open to reveal two eyes peering at them suspiciously, "Are you cops?"<br>"Do we look like cops?" said Sam irritably.

"You've got the attitude of a cop," he said.

"Look," she said, "If we were fucking cops which is kind of impossible considering we are 17, then you wouldn't be able to tell us to not come in, we'd just fucking break your door down and arrest you."  
>The eyes nodded at her, "Fair point, you're a smart one, come in."<br>Sam shook her head and looked over at the rest of them as he unlatched the door, "Fucking Scots."

They walked in, to see a large number of people dancing, although it was kind of easy to tell which ones were from Roundview, and which ones were from the town. The Roundview students seemed to be rather loud and in your face, the Scots looked liked they'd never interacted with anyone in their life, and being from an isolated village like this, chances are that was probably the case.

Gemma shut her eyes and let out a huge smile, like jumping in a pool on a boiling hot day.

She immediately threw off her coat and went to jump among the crowds of people.

Claire went to follow her, but immediately lost her tail. She looked around the room… everyone had already went and jumped in without her, she was all on her own, except for Dean, who had just gotten a drink and sat down on a chair along the wall.

Claire didn't go over to talk to him, she just leaned back against the wall, and stood there, and when guys came over to crack comments at her, she didn't even rebuke them, she just stood there till they left.

* * *

><p>Hayley pushed her way through the crowds of people as they got closer together, it was a fairly tight place, but Hayley didn't mind this place because the music was fun, and the people stayed out of your way for the most of it, except for one creepy looking guy who seemed to be staring at her the whole night.<p>

Kelly came up to her and put her hand on her shoulder, sloshing her drink about she pointed to her right, "See the guy with the shaved head. 14 inches right down my mouth."  
>Hayley shook her head and shoved Kelly's hand off her shoulder, "Kelly that's sick, and you are really drunk."<br>"Relax would you! It's a party, ain't it, go get fucked!"

"I'd rather not."  
>"Looky here little Ms. Virgin, just go give some guy head, he'll like it and you'll feel better, you're technically not losing your vegees, are you?"<p>

"I'm not giving some random tosser a blowjob Kelly! Not everybody has to be a little slut like you." Hayley swallowed her words but realized it was too late.

Kelly could only just comprehend it but frowned back at her, "I'm a slut am I? What would you know about sluts, you little virgin. Why are you getting so angry at me? What did I do?"

"You left me Kelly! At the posh party! At the fucking sex party! You dragged me along so you could get off again and I nearly got raped, you don't care about me anymore Kelly, you only care about pleasuring yourself and you know what I'm done."  
>"Hayley…" said Kelly, but she was already trying to walk off, "You know maybe you need to expand a bit. Drew's past girlfriends would suggest that he wants a girl with experience."<br>Hayley stopped in her tracks and turned around, "What did you say?"  
>"You heard me," Kelly said, "Drew's first girl, was Gemma, they had a wonderful first fuck, and they kept at it, and became girlfriend and boyfriend, happy little secret lovers, but then they moved on, and now he doesn't care, he's just like every other guy, he's only in it for the sex."<br>"Shut up Kelly," said Hayley, taking a deep breath, "He's not like that, you're lieing."  
>"He said she felt so good, he was in love with her, the amount of girls he's been with, just like every… other… guy."<br>Hayley gave Kelly a big shove and started to lose it, "Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up!"

Hayley grabbed her head and screamed before running through the crowd now clearing the way after the commotion.

Kelly stood there a bit shell-shocked, and moved back into the crowd.

When she finally found him, she tapped Drew on the shoulder, "Drew," she yelled over the music, "Hayley's outside, I think you need to find her."  
>Drew sighed, "What is with everybody on this fucking trip, it's like an episode of fucking eastenders up here."<br>"Do you know what I want to know?" said a staggering Paulie, "Why am I not friends with Olivia Wilde?"  
>Drew turned back to his drunk friend, "Well Pauls, when you get back, add her on Facebook, in the meantime, Kelly is going to look after you."<br>"Are you friends with Olivia Wilde?" Paulie asked Kelly.

"No," she said, "But I'd like to be… we should do that together."

"Yeah!" screamed Paulie jumping to his feet, but he smacked the ceiling with his head and went flying back onto the floor unconscious.

* * *

><p>Hayley sat outside in the cold, rolling a pebble continuously between her fingers.<p>

"Hiya," said Drew to her left.

Hayley looked up and swallowed, "hey."

Drew sat down next to her, "Is life falling to shit?"

"Yeah," said Hayley, "It kind of is. Did you have something with Gemma?"  
>"Who told you that?" said Drew with a look of shock.<p>

Hayley just kind of sat there, staring off at the ground.

"I guess… it was kind of good, for both of us, to just have somebody, cause we had no-one in our lives, just someone who cared, we could just release every sort of emotion through sex, whenever things got difficult we kind of had each other, and sort of helped, but it was the fakest thing ever and we just got so attached to this fake relationship it kind of killed us in the end, and I lost her, then I lost everything else, I broke down and became a shell of what I was."  
>"What do you mean, lost everything else?"<p>

Drew quickly shrugged it off, "and I spose that's was the only way to get by each day after that, just live the life like everyone else, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, I may not particularly liked it but it kept me alive, which is strange to say."  
>Hayley tried to fight back tears, "Are we all just fucked up and lonely?"<br>Drew paused for a minute, "I'd like to say no, but at the moment I don't really see any way I can."  
>"You just wonder so much… why nobody cares…"<br>Drew turned to her, "Yeah… but, I care."  
>"Well deny it as you may, but I care too." She smiled at him as he smiled back, then she cocked her head to the door of the party, "I don't want to go back in there."<br>"Then we won't," said Drew, "Let's just stay here, as long as you don't mind the frost."  
>"Better than in there any day." She said.<p>

* * *

><p>Claire eyed Gemma on the dance floor, as she talked to another girl dancing, both of them smiling rather eagerly.<p>

Claire swallowed and shut her eyes, clenching her fists, "I trust her," she said as she opened her eyes again, but it still upset her, "Move the fuck away," she said under her breath.

"It's not easy is it," said Dean to the right.

"What isn't easy?" asked Claire.

"Watching the person you love with someone else." He said looking at Gemma.

Claire frowned, "But who do…" she shook her head, "Sorry Dean, I've gotta go."

She stormed towards Gemma and grabbed her by the wrist pulling her out of the crowd and outside the club.

"Claire!" she said, "What are you doing?"  
>"What are you doing Gemma? Did you see how close you were to that girl in the club? You looked like you were about to kiss her?"<p>

"Well, I wasn't."  
>"What's going on Gemma? You'll kiss other girls, you won't even kiss me, your… your girlfriend."<br>Gemma swallowed at the words and then looked up at Claire, "I'm just having fun ok?"  
>"I thought this sleazy life of yours was going to end when we got together."<br>"Claire what happened at all when we got together?" asked Gemma, Claire looked like she had just been shot, "It just kind of happened didn't it? You're expecting so much from me and I don't know what the fuck to do, I don't even know what I'm fucking, What the fuck am I doing Claire? I don't do relationships they just fuck you up and now I'm getting fucked up and there's just nothing happening between us we just got together and stood still, that's all that is really happening." She said.

"Is that how you feel Gemma? Cause if it is then just fucking dump me on the spot so you can go back in, maybe you'll still have a chance to have sex with that girl," she said on the verge of tears.

"I'm not saying that Claire…"  
>"Then what are you saying Gemma? Stop fucking me around!"<br>Gemma shook her head, "I'm sorry Claire… I told you before I can't do relationships… and I can't deal with this…"  
>Gemma left Claire on the spot and walked back into the club.<p>

Claire clutched her own face, as silent tears started to trickle before she broke into a run up the hill, back towards the campsite.

She ran into her room and slammed the door, pacing it for a bit. She picked up the book underneath her bed and flipped to the back where her pictures of Gemma were.

She tore them out one by one and pitched them on the ground while gritting her teeth together.

She pulled off her sweater and her pants and immediately started hurling her clothes on the ground until she was in just her underwear.

She stood there breathing heavily with a tear-stained face before she screamed and ran out the door.

* * *

><p>"Alright be careful guys," said Gemma as they walked up to their room, "she is going to have been crying and rather fragile, I'll have to talk to her."<br>"Do you want me to?" asked Sam, "See if I can…"  
>"No I think I better do it," said Gemma, "I'm the one who fucked up."<p>

Gemma pushed the door open to see the floor littered with objects, various clothing and sheet thrown across the floor and a whole bunch of scrunched up papers.

"Holy shit," said Kelly, "Maybe a bit more than crying…"  
>Gemma picked up one of the pictures to see an incredibly detailed drawing of her, but she thought she looked so much more beautiful then she did in real life, Claire had captured the beautiful side of Gemma, that Gemma thought no one knew about.<p>

She pulled it close to her chest as she approached the window and saw the forest they had been in earlier, but it was covered up by an incredibly heavy blizzard…

Gemma's breathing grew heavier, "Shit," she said, "Claire!" she screamed at the window.

* * *

><p>Claire was running through the trees, looking like she had just been in a fight, her face was ragged and saw, and her legs were covered in sores. Not to mention the fact that she was freezing to death.<p>

She finally reached the clearing, where the blizzard became strong again and laid down in the middle before curling up into a ball and holding Gemma's shirt close to her chest.

She tried to cry, but her eye's stung too much from the blizzard.

She just lied there silently, getting whipped by the snow, and freezing to death.

* * *

><p><em>Poor Claire! On another note, I'm sitting downstairs in the living room about to have dinner and I just saw an old box on the toy shelf, and it has a sticker of the most demonic sun on it, I can't believe I had never noticed it until now, either way I'm going to have nightmares it is absolutely bone chilling and it's on one of our toy boxes, chapter 7 up soon. Everything that's happening may seem a little odd and dramatic, but it will all start to make sense in a bit, heads up, I think the next episode I'm writing will be my best piece of work.<em>


	7. Chapter 7

**SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE  
><strong>

**This would be about my 17 millionth apology, so I think it's fair to say at this point, I don't always update regularly though I try. I don't have much of an excuse to be honest, but I think you do understand it is hard to write over 2000 words daily, so you can probably cut me some slack, but I continue to write, and you know, I'll just keep at it, chapter 7.**

* * *

><p>Drew held her shirt up in there and dropped it back to the ground. "Why is she running around out there naked?"<p>

"I don't think she is naked," said Kelly, "she has some level of self respect and don't you even think about making some sort of comment," She said snapping her fingers at Dean.

Dean threw his hands in the air, "What makes you think I was going to say something?"  
>"Past experience and your ever persistent dick."<p>

Dean smacked his hand against the wall, "You know what? Fuck it! Fuck all of you! I can't take it, I'm not just a shithead…" he stood there panting, "Is that all I am to you guys? The letdown? The dickhead that you put up with, am I nothing more? Do you guys even know the first thing about me and how I feel, you think I don't know I'm shit, cause believe me I know more than anybody, but it's not who I am, I am so much more and you guys are the only people I have and even you want to see me floating dead in acid. Can't you see I'm completely fucked over without anybody thinking any more of me than some horny prick, and I know, I probably deserve it, I earned myself this title, but I just hoped that my friends had a little bit more respect and value for me."  
>"Dean," said Sam, "Now is not the time for this."<br>"Then when is the time Sam? Are we just gonna shut him off like this." Said Kelly.

"I'm not saying it's not important, but Claire is out there on her own and we need to get her…"  
>"We need to get a teacher," Said Kelly, "He needs to help her."<br>"It's a fucking blizzard! And we can't tell the teachers or they'll find out about the party, so just shut the fuck up!"  
>"Hey, everybody just calm down," said Drew.<p>

"You know what? No! I'm sick of getting the shit eye from everyone too, everybody hates me now for some reason, Sam is still going on about our little fight when she is the one who went and fucked my brother and had a go at me when I was helping out Claire."  
>"Shut up!" screamed Sam, "You don't know shit that's going on in my life; I'm on the verge of losing myself cause I'm such a skanky bitch! Are you happy now? I feel like absolute shit Kelly, absolute shit, we all do."<br>"Don't you give me this crap, just cause you miss your new boy toy," said Kelly snidely.

"Actually, no," said Hayley, "I'm sick of your shit too Kelly, I nearly got fucking raped cause of you! You don't even give two shits!"  
>"Ok!" yelled Kelly, "So I'm a fuckup we all are."<br>"We get that!" screamed Sam.

"Everybody just calm down." Said Drew.

"What and be like you?" said Kelly, "Mr. Cool, not everything is easy for us like you, nobody ever fucking hates you, everybody adores you."  
>"What?" asked Drew shocked, cocking his head at Kelly.<p>

"No, she's right," said Dean, "Kelly tries to keep the group together and no one is there for her, you don't have shit and the group is falling apart."  
>"You think I don't have anything wrong in my life," said Drew, "Well fuck you Dean! Just cause I don't share out my life like a bag of pick 'n' mix doesn't mean I don't have anything wrong, so fuck you and for the record I shut everything out just to help everyone and all I get is yelled at."<br>"You insensitive bitch!" said Sam, "Just cause you've fucked up don't take it out on the rest of us!"  
>"I'm sick of everyone saying I've fucked up, and you know what Hayley, I don't need to be told off for trying to live my life, just cause I'm not some awkward hipster virgin like you, who can't even tell anyone…"<br>"Shut up you whore, shut up you whore, shut up you whore!" Hayley screamed repetitively stamping her feet, she immediately begun clicking her fingers violently.

"Don't call her a fucking whore!" said Dean across the room.

Gemma's eyes were still focused out the window staring at the storm.

"Guys," Said Paulie, "I think we need to put this aside, and go help…"  
>"Shut up Paulie," Said Dean, "Now listen here hipster chick…"<br>"Don't call her that," said Drew giving him a shove.

"What the fuck are you going to do Drew? Whack me with your guitar."  
>"No, hold on," said Paulie, "Don't tell me to shut up Dean."<br>"What do you care Paulie? What the fuck do you care?"  
>"I'm a human being! I have a right to fucking talk and not be your doormat Dean."<br>"Who are you? Fucking elephant man? No wonder you can't pick up a girl, did Jesus not give you a big enough dick?"  
>"Leave him alone Dean, you prick." Shouted Kelly.<p>

"I thought you were on my side, see I'm being nothing but a douche again."  
>"Maybe it's cause you are a douche," said Sam.<p>

"And then there's you! Still fucking angry cause I was a dick months ago."  
>"You were a dick Dean! You were and you still don't feel bad about it!"<br>"Of course I feel fucking bad about it! Does it sound like I'm shits and sugars?"  
>"Shut up Sam," said Kelly, "Stop being angry at everyone just cause you miss Ken's cock."<p>

"Just leave her alone Kelly," yelled Drew.

"Stay off her Drew!" shouted Paulie.

"Getting fucking protective are we?" said Dean.

Hayley was still rapidly clicking her fingers and on the verge of tears as the yelling increased and people started shouting over the top of each other.

Gemma eventually snapped and turned around, "PISS OFF!" She screamed.

Everybody's eyes flicked to her.

"We aren't like that," said Gemma, "We're friends, we're mates like nobody else in this college and I know that cause I'm the most manipulative bitchy bi-sexual whore there is at this place, yet all of you would die for me and I would die for all of you. Seeing you like this is like shitting all over my heart, and you picked the absolute worst time to do it, so I've got one simple message… GROW THE FUCK UP!"

She grabbed her jacket off the bed and slammed the door, leaving them all speechless.

* * *

><p>As she got out into the blizzard, all she saw was the black of the sky and the white of the snow.<p>

She slid on her jacket and stood at the end of the porch, looking up into the forest where Claire would be.

Tony came walking down the porch, having heard the commotion from the cabin.

"Gemma?" Tony asked, "Where are you going?"  
>"I've got to find Claire, please don't try and stop me sir, I know what I want now and I don't care if I die out there, I've got to find Claire… I know where she'll be."<br>"As a teacher I'd say absolutely no way in hell, but as a person who is out in the middle of Scotland, fuck the school, go do something right."

Gemma smiled and nodded before running out into the blizzard, the snow immediately began to pierce as it hit her eyes and it was so cold that it started to burn.

Hot tears began to run out of Gemma's eyes as she winced in pain, but her feet were stronger than the pain and she continued up the hill until she hit the forest, dodging through trees, and trying to remember the path Claire took her along, the image of the innocent girl who loved her, remained in her mind.

The snow got clear again and she burst into the clearing where Claire's body lay shivering in the snow.

She was a pure white and her face looked like she had just been shot; she slowly opened her eyes but it caused her great pain as Gemma bent down beside her.

"Gemma…" whispered Claire through a dead voice.

"Claire" cried Gemma through her tears as she removed her jacket and covered Claire in it and then she threw her body around Claire's protecting her.

"I'm so sorry Claire," she said painfully, "I love you…"

* * *

><p>Claire's eyes slowly drifted open, she still felt like she was in a lot of pain, but it was quiet and warm.<p>

Gemma stood at the bathroom mirror, and as she saw Claire's eyes open in the reflection she ran over to her.

"Oh my goodness, you're ok," she said running her hand through her hair, "I was so scared Claire, you could've died."

"You've been here," said Claire.

"I couldn't leave, I was so worried about you. I never should have said that stuff and I feel like having my face slammed into a grill for doing that, I never realized how important you were in my life."  
>Claire let out a meager smile, "I feel like death."<br>"You still look like an angel," said Gemma, "and just so you know, everyone else has been worried sick, we all love you Claire, you need to know that."  
>"I love you Gemma." She said with a smile.<p>

"You shouldn't, I'm a fucker."

"You aren't Gemma… I'm like the water, I'm soft and cool, and you are like the fire, passionate, smooth, beautiful," Claire slid her hand into Gemma's hand, "and when we are together, we are beautiful, so how could I not love you?"  
>Gemma smiled back at her, "Tony will be down in a minute."<br>"Why?" asked Claire.

Gemma paused, "They have to send you home."  
>"I don't want to go home," said Claire, "I want to be here with you."<br>"Babe, you're not well." Said Gemma, "I'm not going to let you get hurt anymore, just wait here, I'll call for him."

"No, Gemma," said Claire trying to reach out for her, but her sides began to stab.  
>Claire opened her eyes again as Tony walked in, "Right then Claire," he said, "how you feeling sailor?"<br>Claire smiled, "Shit, but I don't want to leave."  
>"Sorry Claire, this isn't policy or anything, but I feel that it's my personal obligation to send you home, the bus will be ready shortly, I'll be on it too, make sure you get back safely."<br>"Tony please, I can't go home," said Claire.

"Claire, I can't let you stay out here when you are feeling like this, you were running out in a blizzard in your fucking underwear, you were on the edge of death, if it wasn't for Gemma… I'm sorry Claire."  
>"But we'll get back at about 3 in the morning," said Claire, "I've missed a whole day."<br>"Just more reason, nothing I can do about that, Gemma if you could help her…"  
>"I'll go with her Tone," said Gemma, "Please, just, I'll go with her."<p>

Tony took in a deep breath, "Fuck it, yes, be ready in 15."  
>Claire looked up at Gemma, "You don't have to…"<br>"I do Claire," she said, "You mean everything to me and it's taken me this long to realize, and I don't want you to get hurt again, I'm going with you."  
>"Gemma… my parents are away, I've got a key, but… I'll be all on my own… I don't want to be on my own."<br>"Then I'll go home with you," said Gemma, "I've told you, I'm going to look after you."  
>They looked at each other smiling.<p>

"Cute," said Tony with a cheesy smile.

"Really?" said Gemma, "It's not turning you on at all, is it?"  
>Tony frowned, "Get real, you guys are like my fucking kids."<br>"Then it's not too Dykey McDykeburger for you?"  
>"Weird way to put it, but I have no problem with it, in fact, I probably ship it."<br>"Ship it? Did you really just say that?" asked Gemma.

"I really just said it, ready in 15, I'll see you down there."  
>Tony walked out onto the porch as the night begun to set in. Drew came running up to him. "What news have you got for me Mr. Martin?" he asked.<p>

"It's about me and well… Sam."  
>"Ooo," said Tony, "Has something happened there that shouldn't have happened cause she has a boyfriend who is also your friend."<br>Tony raised an eyebrow, "No… we want to go home now as well, if that's ok."  
>"Why?" asked Tony, "Why does everybody want to leave the snow camp? We never got a fucking snow camp, you should appreciate it."<br>"I'm sorry Tony, we're all just… a bit shit, and she really doesn't want to be here, we're not even saying witty things anymore, that's how messed up we are."  
>"So why are you going home then?" he asked.<p>

"I'm a good friend and also I don't exactly talk about my problems."  
>"Yes I've noticed," Said Tony, "Fuck it, we all have a super emotional party, paint our nails and eat snicker doodles."<p>

"Or we could just get on the bus."  
>Tony shrugged, "Slightly better option."<br>"That wasn't witty, that was just weird."  
>"I'm having a short fit of anger Drew, don't be a dick."<br>"Sorry, we'll be down in 10."  
>Drew ran off and Tony turned back to the bus, "Emotional fucking bombsite." He said before sighing and walking down to the bus.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Claire! Poor little Claire :( She's like an injured teddy bear, but if you want to see things lighten up a bit for Claire, then wait for the next chapter, with a very coot ending :) Then it's time to write 7.08 which I am really looking forward to and I'm going to make sure I get it right, chapter 8 will hopefully be up tomorrow.<em>


	8. Chapter 8

**SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE**

**So we reach the end of another episode and my desperation for Mario Kart 7 has never been higher, my birthday is in 11 days so the expectation is that is the day I will be receiving it, until then I'll just roll around watching videos desperately and write more fanfiction, now I'm busy for a couple of days so I expect to start Episode 8 on Saturday, that is what I hope, lets just see how thing play out, until then here is Chapter 8, thanks for reading.**

* * *

><p>The bus rolled through the British countryside and not a single light shined in the sky. Inside, a fair few curtains were open but the lights had been turned off at Tony's request, leaving it dark with a sort of bluish glow so you could still see everything.<p>

Gemma looked out the window at a cold country view slowly drifting by the silent bus.

Claire was asleep and rugged up in a small blanket. Gemma looked over at her resting peacefully, she was improving and she still managed to look like an angel.

Gemma frowned and ran her fingers through Claire's hair and then slowly stroked her face.

Gemma stood up, careful not to wake Claire and walked downstairs, to where Tony sat near the bus driver in case he was needed, listening to his iPod, yet still awake.

Gemma slowly slid into the seat next to him.

Tony's head turned as he noticed Gemma sitting down next to him, "How is she?"

"Sleeping, but getting better by the looks of it."  
>"Why aren't you asleep?" asked Tony<p>

"I can't, she nearly died it's kind of thrown me off, also everything is just… quiet and beautiful, the serenity is just amazing." She frowned, "Why aren't you asleep?"  
>"Keep Rod company, in case he has any interesting trivia, also after being hit by a bus you generally don't sleep on them, still uneasy."<br>Gemma shrugged, "Fair enough."  
>"Tell me more about the serenity."<p>

Gemma looked up at him, "Everything, its kind of dark and cold, but a peaceful kind of dark and cold, and then there's Claire, I know it's cliché, but she's like an angel, she's so soft and perfect and I just can't comprehend why somebody so beautiful and innocent would ever fall for a wrecking ball like me."  
>"Gemma, I know what you see in Claire, and I know what Claire sees in you. You are fiery and radiant, in a world where everybody wants to be humble and respectful, you give the world the finger in such a passionate way and demand it to kiss your feet, you want everyone to be as exciting and passionate as you are and so you set out there to change the world, but you are scared of the fact that you have love within you, cause love for others can bring you down, but what you don't realize is that can make the best out of you, and that's what Claire sees."<br>"Will we last?" asked Gemma, "Or are we just going to burn out. I felt like today, I wasn't there for her and I just fucked up and I don't know how to do this properly, to actually take care of someone as if they're my own. "  
>"Gemma, when I was your age I had somebody who was absolutely in love with me and I didn't love them back, so I was myself, I fucked around cause that's what I do, I had no idea the amount she loved me or what it meant." He swallowed and looked over at her, "and then I lost her, and only then did I realize how much I absolutely loved this girl, she was everything to me and I let it go, but… I worked hard, and against all the impossible I got her back and that kind of answers it. They are never going to be able to stop it Gemma, a lot of people have tried but they can't. Age, distance, gender, death, events, parents, people around you, laws, all of that can stop your contact with them, but it can never stop you loving them and that is something that humanity is never going to understand because it's a brick on legs, but you're not, so whatever you're going to face, as long as you keep loving her, you'll be ok, may not feel that way, but in the end… we're all ok."<p>

Gemma smiled and looked forward, "Tony?"  
>"Yeah?"<p>

"What was her name?" she asked.

Tony turned to her, "Her name was Michelle."  
>Gemma smiled back at him and stood up from her seat heading back upstairs.<p>

* * *

><p>When she got back upstairs, Claire was still asleep, she headed a bit further back where Drew was awake leaning his head against the window and looking out along the road and Sam was asleep on his shoulder, her face obviously still stained with tears.<p>

"I wasn't there for her," whispered Gemma, "I got too worried about Claire that I stop taking notice in everyone else and I didn't even know what was going on with her."  
>Drew turned to face her, "It's ok, you needed to be there for Claire, I helped Sam, so it's ok."<br>"That's the way it always seems to be with you, there for everyone." She said.

He smirked, "You're telling me."

"Do you wanna…" Gemma rolled her head in a gesture.

"Ok," he said, "Just gimme a sec." He gently moved Sam's head off his shoulder so she was sitting up straight and then carefully stuck his leg over the chair and rolled back into the two seater behind where he was sitting.

Gemma sat down next to him, "Welcome back to College, here's a snow trip."  
>Drew laughed quietly, "Unbelievable, all this in like two days, everybody was an emotional train wreck."<br>Gemma rolled her head looking up at him, "I think you have it worst off though."  
>"I don't think anybody has it worse off Gems, we all have really shitty problems."<br>"No but you really do," she said, "Cause nobody is there to help you."  
>"That's cause nobody has any idea," he said, "and when they have no idea, they don't really care."<br>"I care," she said, "I know what you think but honestly Drew you are one of the most amazing people I have in my life and I am so thankful for that."  
>"But nobody really knows any more Gemma, I just feel so distant and lonely, it just… sucks. I love all of you I really do, but I feel so apart when you guys have no idea."<br>"Drew, I don't care who you are, like who you really are, I'm going to love you regardless, and don't ever let that leave your mind."  
>Drew smiled back at her, "I won't."<p>

"Just so you know I want to know who you are Drew, so you can tell me."  
>"Sorry," he said shaking his head.<p>

Gemma gave a worried look, "Why not?"

"I spose… I don't really know, but more than anything…" He turned to her, "It would break my heart."  
>They sat in silence sitting forward, "Do you ever miss it?" asked Gemma, "What we had, our little secret, I think they all kind of know now."<br>"It was nice, feeling like you had somebody, that's kind of what we have in common, we are both surrounded by people and feel lonely without love, and we just wanted to know what it was like… to have someone who cared… and so we both fell into this little thing of false love, feeding off each others sex and fake love and problems."  
>"And then that turned us into little machines," said Gemma, "we needed it more than anything."<br>"I kind of hate sex now," he said, "I still do it so much, but I hate it… it's so shit without love, I just want to know what it feels like to love someone properly. You were lucky, you found someone to love, I dunno if I ever will."  
>"You think that would change things?" she asked.<p>

"I honestly do Gemma, I know you love Claire, so don't let it go to waste, trust me when I say you won't really find the absolute beauty of it until you do it with someone you love, the bible is kind of right if you think about it, I mean, it is called making love, we just fucked up and turned it into a little feel good fest and now it means nothing."  
>Gemma stared intently into the chair ahead of her, taking in the words, "Drew," she said, "I know more than anything, that you're going to find someone who loves you."<br>"It keeps me going you know? That is the only thing that keeps me going, the thought that one day there will be someone who I mean everything to."  
>Gemma smiled, "Drew, there already is, you do mean everything to me, to all of us, just like you guys are my reason to keep going, we should be yours."<br>Drew smiled back at her, "You are."

They sat in silence as the bus slowly trundled along and the wind seeped through the windows with a whistle.

"You reckon we'll be ok one day?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, "We'll all be ok eventually."

* * *

><p>Gemma watched as the bus let off a loud jerk and then pulled off down the street, and then she carried their stuff into the house.<p>

They sat in the living room quietly at 3 in the morning, with the fireplace crackling, being the only light, and reflecting warmly throughout the room. Claire sat with her feet curled up on the armchair, as they stared at each other.

"Claire?" said Gemma, "Do you believe I love you?"  
>Claire was about to answer but hesitated, "You're a wild fire Gemma, so I can never be sure and to be honest that's what makes it so hard for me. I think… you're amazing, but it's almost like I'm never enough for you, like I don't mean that much to you."<br>Gemma stood up and walked over to her, kneeling down in front of her, "You mean everything to me Claire, I love you."  
>"I really want to believe it Gemma, I really do, and I want to feel your love." She said in desperation.<p>

Gemma nodded and whispered as her heart raced, "Ok."

She closed her eyes and placed her warm lips against Claire's soft lips as Claire closed her eyes.

Gemma wrapped her arms around Claire's back as she removed Claire's shirt. Her back was as soft as the snow, as she slowly slid her hand along, and they moved on to the floor.

A soft glow ignited within them as they touched. There entire bodies tingled, as Claire sat on Gemma, natural and pure as she kissed Gemma's fiery lips.

Gemma felt it too as Claire's panting became heavier and her hands gripped tight, it wasn't out of pain, it wasn't like every other time with the strangers to ease her emotions, it was a flow of beauty that seeped through her. The softness of Claire's skin and the sound of her voice, Gemma realized what both Tony and Drew were talking about, it was called making love, because she could feel Claire's emotions, she could feel them connecting with her own.

They lay out in front of the fireplace with a blanket draped over them as their feet intertwined.

Gemma stared into Claire's soft polished crystal eyes, as she let out a glistening pink smile.

"I love you Claire," she said as she leant in to kiss her, and they fell asleep with their heads resting against each other, as the flames flickered in the background, illuminating the two bodies lying against each other in the night.

* * *

><p><em>A really beautiful ending, with that specific last scene, there is the perfect song to go with it, listen to 'Collect Call' by Metric; it works so beautifully with it. Sex scenes are always hard to write, you can either do it two ways, write it with beauty or write it with perversion, but when you do write it with beauty it makes something so sweet and I hope you're all happy that Claire got a happy ending (Don't worry you haven't seen the last of Clemma, there is definitely much more to their story.) I hope you all liked it, please review cause it really helps, I will begin Episode 8 soon.<em>


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